Intothe Future And The Time Traveller example essay topic

Chapters 1 and 2 Summary The Time Traveller is in his home, speaking to a group of men that includes the narrator. He is lecturing on the fourth dimension. He tells them that a cube exists not only in space, but also in time. Time is the fourth dimension. Many of them are skeptical.

The Time Traveller claims that one should be able to move about in the fourth dimension just a sone can move about in the other three. After all, he notes, we are constantly moving forward in time, why not move faster or slower or even backward? He produces a miniature time machine, the size of a clock, made of ivory and crystal. The Time Traveller explains that one lever sends the machine into the future and the other one sends it into the past. He asks one of the guests to push the forward lever, and the machine disappears in a small gust. He claims that the machine is now gliding forward into the future.

The guests ask why they cannot still see it, since they too are moving intothe future, and the Time Traveller explains that it is moving forward too quickly to be seen, like the spokes of a wheel or a speeding bullet. The guests are amazed. The Traveller then shows them a much larger machine, with which he plans to explore time. The narrator concludes that not many of the guests believed the Time Traveller, as he was very intelligent man, likely to play elaborate pranks. The narrator returns to dinner at his house the next week. The guests include some of the men from the previous week and some new guests.

They have been instructed to begin dinner without their host. When he enters, he is incredibly dusty and dishevel led. He quickly drinks some champagne, then goes to wash up. The narrator suggests to the other guests that their host has been travelling in time.

The others are incredulous and make sarcastic remarks in reply. When the Time Traveller is finally ready to tell his story, the guests quickly raise objections. The Time Traveller says that he has no energy to argue and will speak only if everyone agrees not to interrupt. The guests agree, and sit in increasingly rapt attention as the story begins. Chapters 3 and 4 Summary The Time Traveller gets on his machine and pushes the forward lever just a little.

He feels a dizzying sensation, and when he looks at the clock in his lab he sees that five hours have passed. He then presses the forward lever a bit more. Night and day fly by in increasingly rapid succession. Soon the lab disappears. He can see the hazy outline of buildings as well as the sun going in a continuous path across the sky that moves up and down with the seasons.

A feeling of headlong motion turns into exhilaration. He begins to worry that when he stops the machine it will land where there is already some solid object, and he will be obliterated. He becomes very frightened and pulls the lever to a stop. He ends up flying headlong through the air. The traveller finds himself in a hail storm. As it passes, he notices a giant statue of a white sphinx on a bronze pedestal.

He begins to fear what man may have evolved into. Perhaps it is something very cruel or savage. He notices large buildings, and as he turns his time machine over on the right side, he notices that some figures in rich robes are observing him from the nearest building. One of the creatures approaches him. It is beautiful but very frail, reminding the Time Traveller of someone afflicted by tuberculosis.

More of the creatures surround him, speaking in a 'sweet and liquid tone. ' They seem free of fear, and he feels safe. He removes the control levers from his time machine so that no one else can use it. The creatures have large eyes, curly hair, and thin red lips. When he points up to the sun to try to explain where he has come from, one of the creatures makes the sound of thunder, thinking that he came from the hail storm. He wonders if they are fools and is flooded with disappointment.

They begin to run about and shower him with strange flowers, and he laughs at how wrongly he had imagined the future. The creatures take the traveller into one of their large buildings. It is covered with strange hieroglyphics. They give him a meal of strange fruit. He tries to learn a few words. They laugh at his attempts to speak their language, and soon grow weary of teaching him.

They seem foolish and indolent. He walks out to explore the world of 802,701 AD. There are ruins. He notices that all of the creatures live together in huge buildings.

He also notices that there are no outward signs of gender, and that there are no old people. He thinks he has arrived in a communist paradise, and that these creatures are the result of a world without hardship and fear. He thinks how in his own time, human intelligence is bent toward making life easier, and now, he thinks, he sees the outcome in the frail, naive creatures. It is hardship that necessitates vigor, and keeps man intelligent and strong. Without danger, he thinks, there is no need for the family, which results in the communist way of life he sees in these creatures. But, as he is telling his story, the Time Traveller says that this theory of his was very wrong.

Chapter 5 As the Time Traveller is reflecting on his theories, night begins to fall. He heads back this time Machine. As he approaches the spot from a distance, the machine appears to begone, and he breaks into a desperate run. It is gone. He is sure that no one travelled intime, because he took the levers, but someone has obviously moved it in space. He believes that the creatures he has encountered so far are too weak to move the machine.

He goes into a frenzy, running around the Sphinx statue, where he startles a white creature that runs away. He goes into the hall and wakes the sleeping creatures, demanding his time machine in a gruff manner, which scares the creatures. The narrator calms down and tries to reason out where his machine might be and how he can get it back. That morning, the traveller decides that since he was only away from the machine for a short time it can't have gone very far. He concludes that the machine must be hidden in the immense pedestal of the sphinx statue. He tries to open the pedestal's panels with a rock, but does not succeed.

When he asks the creatures how to open it, they react with shock and disgust. He decides that he must be patient, and that it would be a good idea to get to know the creatures better. He learns more of their language and explores the area. He pays more attention to the wells dotting the landscape, and notes that air seems to be sucked down into them. He can hear the dull sound of machines coming from below. He begins to reconsider his theory that the creatures come from a decadent, automated civilization, for he notices that there are only buildings, and that the clothes of the creatures must be made somewhere.

He also doesn't understand the strange wells, or how his time machine disappeared. Meanwhile, the Time Traveller rescues one of the creatures from drowning in the river, which has shifted a mile or so from the bed of the Thames. Her name is Weena, and she seems like an affectionate, precocious child to him. She greets him when he returns to the area of the white sphinx statue, making it feel like home. Like the other creatures, she is very afraid of the dark. Her fellow creatures sleep in great clumps in the halls of the buildings, and she is very reluctant to let the narrator sleep elsewhere.

One morning, the narrator wakes up at dawn and goes out on the porch of one of the buildings. He imagines he sees white figures moving around in the dull pre-dawn light. On his fourth morning, he enters an old ruin and finds two big eyes staring back at him. It is a white, ape-like creature. The animal flees, stumbling through the daylight. He tries to track it, but it seems to have disappeared down one of the nearby wells.

He deduces from this new creature's appearance and behaviour that it lives underground, and he begins to understand the wells as being a huge ventilation system for an underground race. He imagines that the underground creatures are the labourers of the future society, and that they are only allowed to come out at night. He thinks of how in his own time there is a growing gap between the idle rich and labourers, and how the wealthy own huge estates where others are not allowed. He imagines that the have forced the underground creatures to work for them and have denied them access to the sunshine of the surface. He soon learns from the peaceful surface creatures that these underground creatures a recalled 'Morlocks' and that the surface creatures themselves are called 'Eloi. ' When he tries to ask Weena more questions about the Morlocks, however, she becomes very upset.

Chapters 6 and 7 Summary The Time Traveller concludes that in order to recover his machine he must enter into the world of the Morlocks. In the distance, he sees what he describes as the Palace of Green Porcelain. Instead of visiting it, he decides that he must descend into one of the wells. When Weena sees him descend, she is very worried.

He clambers down one of the wells for a long time, finally finding a small alcove where he can rest. He awakes to the touch of clammy fingers. Lighting a match, he sees several Morlocks running into the distance. He explores further and finds a vast chamber filled with Morlocks and the throbbing machines that pump air through the caves.

The Morlocks are eating some kind of meat. Suddenly, the matches that he is using to ward off the Morlocks run out, and they seize him. He narrowly escapes back up the well. Horribly frightened, he decides that he must find some way to defend himself from theMorlocks. He has to revise his theories. Over the next few days, he realizes that the meat the Morlocks were eating was probably Eloi, hunted at night.

He now thinks that he understands why the Eloi dread the night. They speak of imminent 'Dark Nights,' and he realizes that the moon is waning. He imagines that his theory about the division of labour being carried to the extreme was right, that at one point the ancestors of the Morlocks must have been driven underground to work for the ancestors of the Eloi, but that now the balance of power has shifted. In their restful ease, the Eloi have grown weak, while theMorlocks have grown strong. He imagines that both are the descendants of man, and that the instinct against cannibalism must have gone out of style. He also imagines that his journey into the underworld must have horribly upset the Morlocks.

Nervous, the traveller hastens to find a safe place to spend the night. He decides to try to find safety in the Palace of Green Porcelain. With Weena on his shoulders, he begins to journey toward it. Weena walks alongside him for a while, stuffing his pockets with flowers, two of which he produces for his guests. He resumes his story.

The journey takes longer than he thought, and as night falls they find themselves on the border of a great forest. The Time Traveller is out of matches, and is afraid to enter the woods with Morlocks about. He sets Weena down on top of a hill, and lets her sleep while he keeps watch. The night passes without harm.

Chapters 8-10 Summary Weena and the Time Traveller enter the Palace of Green Porcelain, and find that just as it appears, it is made out of green porcelain. They also find that it is a ruined museum. Among a chemistry exhibit, the Time Traveller salvages some camphor, an inflammable substance often used in torches. He is thrilled to find some preserved matches -- he had run out -- and he marvels at the completely decayed remains of books that he finds in one of the halls. Exploring a giant hall of machinery, he notices that Weena is scared. Looking into the dark end of the hall, he hears the sound of Morlocks.

He breaks a lever off one of the machines, and flees. Exiting the museum, he intends to rush back to the area of the sphinx statue, but he is exhausted because he has not slept in two days. As they near the woods again, they hear Morlocks beginning to stir behind them. Night has fallen.

Using the camphor and some dry brush he had collected, the Time Traveller starts a large fire to guard their retreat into the woods. It spreads quickly. He and Weena proceed at a rapid pace, but eventually find themselves surrounded by Morlocks. The Time Traveller hurriedly starts a small fire, pulling down dry timber to feed the flames.

Incredibly tired, he nods off to sleep, feeling safe by the fire. He awakes to feel the Morlocks grasping him. He struggles, grabbing hold of the lever he took from the museum. He swings wildly, killing a few Morlocks. Suddenly, the rest flee, and he sees that the first fire has become a giant forest fire.

He can't find Weenaanywhere, and he runs after the Morlocks, hoping that they will lead him to safety. He finally comes to a clearing with a large hill, filled with confused, blinded Morlocks. The yare helpless. When morning comes, he gets his bearings atop the hill and heads back in the direction of the white sphinx statue. He plans to pry open the pedestal with his lever. When he arrives, to his surprise, the pedestal is open, and he sees his time machine inside.

He smiles, guessing at the Morlocks' plan of action. He walks into the pedestal, and the panels slide shut behind him, just as he had suspected. He confidently begins to strike a match, but realizes he has nothing to strike it against. The Morlocks pounce, and he desperately struggles onto the saddle of the machine, barely screwing in the forward lever.

He pushes it forward, and escapes into the future. Chapters 11 and 12, and EpilogueSummaryThe Time Traveller flies into the future with a greater velocity than before. Although he is travelling thousands of years per second, he begins to notice day and night again. The sun grows larger and redder. Finally, it seems that the earth has stopped rotating, and is circling the dying sun as the moon used to circle the earth.

When he brings the machine to a stop, he finds himself on a sloping beach. Vegetation covers every surface facing the unmoving sun; the air is very thin. Behind him he sees a huge white butterfly in the distance, and slowly a red rock begins to move toward him. It turns out to be a giant crab.

While he is staring at it, he feels something brush his neck. Itis the antenna of a second giant crab, right next to him. He hurriedly skips a month intothe future to escape, but finds the beach covered with more crabs. He goes on, stopping every hundred years or so, watching the 'old earth ebb away. ' Finally, thirty million years into the future, he comes to a stop. The air is bitter cold, and the only sign of life is lichen on the beach.

Small flakes of snow float in the air. A large disc begins to eclipse the sun; the Time Traveller suspects that some inner planet, perhaps Mercury, which is now much closer to Earth, is passing in front of the sun. An incredible darkness and blackness follows. On the verge of fainting, he climbs back on the machine, and as he does he notices a black blob with tentacles flop over in the distance.

It is the only evidence of animal life. As he travels back in time, he is eventually able to breathe with ease. He sees the dim outlines of buildings, and as he slows down, the walls of his laboratory again surround him. He sees his maid walk backward across the room. He stops the machine, stumbles out to check the date, and enters the dining room where he finds his guests.

The guests are speechless, and apparently very skeptical. For a moment, the Time Traveller's memory seems to falter, overwhelmed. He rushes to look at the time machine, and there it is, covered with dirt and grass. The next day, the narrator returns, eager to speak to his host in the clarity of daylight. The Time Traveller is about to leave on another journey, and promises to be back in half an hour, with hard evidence. But at the time the narrator is telling the story, three years have passed, and the Time Traveller has never returned.

The narrator wonders where he could be, and knows only that he has two very brittle, alien flowers to show that time travel ever happened, proof that the human spirit of tenderness lives on even after strength and mind have decayed.